SPS 2013: Changing the World, Then and Now

The day before Independence Day was another busy one for the St. Albans School of Public Service class of 2013.  In the morning, most of the group attended a nonprofit workship led by Catherine Bellinger, who took a leave from her studies at Princeton College to start a successful nonprofit: "Students for Educational Reform" (SFER).  (Click HERE to read more about Ms. Bellinger in the Forbes "30 Under 30 in Education" list.)  In keeping with the SPS focus on thinking critically through case studies, Ms. Bellinger distilled lessons from her own experience in starting an educational reform non-profit into a case study that the students could discuss and debate.

As part of the group looked forward at the idea of changing the world through non-governmental organizations, a small group looked back.  The "Ted Trip" of the day, led by SPS Faculty member Mr. Ted Eagles, was to the Brookings Institution to hear the lecture: "Rendezvous with Destiny: How Franklin Roosevelt Took the United States into World War II."  (Click HERE for more on that lecture from the Brookings website).

Finally, the entire group reconvened for a case study that looked at some of the pitfalls of trying to achieve change through reform efforts: a Harvard Kennedy School of Government case on Oprah Winfrey's "dream school" for impoverished South African girls.  The case allowed the SPS 2013 students to consider issues such as the appropriate role of private philanthropy; resource allocation; and school and educational reform.